County collects more than $162,000 in sale

A sale of Huntington County properties with seriously delinquent taxes brought in $162,525.03, Huntington County Treasurer Brenda Hamilton and Auditor Cindy Yeiter have announced.

The sale was conducted on Oct. 2.

Each year, county officials conduct a sale of properties with delinquent taxes. Purchasers do not actually buy the property at the sale; instead, they buy a tax lien on the property. The original owner has one year to pay the delinquent property taxes, costs and penalties in order to keep the property. If those are not paid, the property goes to the person who purchased the tax lien.

A total of 146 properties were earmarked for the sale on June 30.

Owners of 89 of those properties paid all taxes, penalties and costs prior to the Oct. 2 sale, removing those properties from the sale, Yeiter says.

The $162,525.03 in income to the county came from both property owners that paid back taxes prior to the sale and bidders on properties offered in the sale.

Twenty-eight of the remaining 57 parcels were purchased at the sale.

The Huntington County Commissioners have acquired a tax lien on the 29 properties that did not sell and may offer those properties to the public in a sale at a later date.

"It is our ultimate goal to return these properties to the tax rolls as quickly and efficiently as possible," Yeiter says. "Property owned by people that pay their property taxes ensure that local government services are fully funded."